Sir, – Noel Whelan's incisive analysis of the pervasive practice of the bugging of the telephones of world leaders is topical, but it is not a recent phenomenon (Opinion, October 26th). The attitude of the Taoiseach that presumes all his telephone calls are monitored is sound reasoning; and similar to the attitude of Lloyd George during the first World War. He always assumed agents of the kaiser would be eavesdropping on his conversations, and whenever possible he would speak in Welsh. In the 1960s, I read of a British academic making a call from his hotel in Bolivia, only to be castigated over the phone by an unknown third person for speaking too fast.
The Orwellian environment in which we now live is concerning and a disturbing feature of the landscape in which we operate. It’s not just world leaders and high-powered politicians who are susceptible to this practice, it affects us all. – Yours, etc,
FRANK GREANEY,.
Lonsdale Road,
Formby,
Liverpool, England.
Sir, – All over Europe media sources are clamouring to reveal details of US monitoring of millions of phone calls, including the phones of national leaders. Such spying on one’s friends is more akin to the role of a peeping Tom than pursuing genuine national security aims.
The Irish media by contrast seems to adopting a deafening silence on the likelihood that the US embassy in Ballsbridge and the US ambassador’s resident in the Phoenix Park may have been involved in similar widespread communications monitoring. – Yours, etc,
EDWARD HORGAN,
Newtown,
Castletroy, Limerick.
Sir, – When President Obama came to Europe shortly after election, he promised his administration had come to Europe to listen and listen carefully.
Nice to see a government keeping its word. – Yours, etc,
ROLAND EVANS,
Dundela Park,
Sandycove, Co Dublin.
Sir, – The Taoiseach Enda Kenny's recent comment that he always operates on the basis that his calls are monitored (Miriam Lord, October 26th) echoes that of Dr Garret FitzGerald almost 30 years ago. The then taoiseach said, "Any Irish government that was simple-minded enough to assume that the intelligence services of the Soviet Union or the United States or Great Britain did not have the power to intercept messages would be taking risks with our national security."
Dr FitzGerald was reacting to evidence that British Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham had intercepted a coded message to him from an Irish diplomat in London in the run-up to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and passed it on to the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. In the message, the diplomat advised the taoiseach that a junior British minister had confided to him that a critical speech by a British cabinet member on Ireland was for domestic consumption and not to worry about it. Within hours the junior minister was carpeted by a senior Whitehall official and told Mrs Thatcher was rather cross to learn the Irish were being given such privileged information. The Irish were tipped off about this encounter as well. Aware that their Swiss code machine was compromised, Irish diplomats resorted to sending sensitive despatches by hand. An embassy official would fly to Ireland, or hand the message to an Aer Lingus pilot at Heathrow for delivery to an Army despatch rider in Dublin to take to the taoiseach’s office. These were typed on an old mechanical typewriter, as the diplomats were also tipped off that a listening device could translate the sound patterns of the embassy electric typewriter. The lesson, then and now, is that the only way to beat new technology is with old technology. – Yours, etc,
CONOR O’CLERY,
Former Irish Times London Editor,
Stepaside, Co Dublin.
Sir, – I have read reports of Chancellor Merkel’s phone being tapped by the Americans. Can the Taoiseach confirm that the NSA has never bothered to tap his phone, preferring, rather, to monitor the communications of the troika? – ours, et,
CORMAC Mc MAHON,
Tweed Street,
Highett, Victoria,
Australia.
Sir, – Just as the effects of an earthquake can be quantified on the Mercalli scale, will future monitoring of communication devices be measured on the Merkeli scale? – Yours, etc.
Brendan Treacy,
Drumree, Co Meath.
Sir, – We still await expressions of gratitude to Edward Snowden and statements of concern for his safety, from Angela Merkel and other European leaders including Enda Kenny. Don’t hold your breath. – Yours, etc,
CIARÁN Ó MURCHÚ,
Dún Chaoin, Co Chiarraí.
Sir, – Would our Government now consider granting Edward Snowden political asylum for his sterling service to the European community? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN LYNCH,
Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7.